Jejuair will launch scheduled service between Busan and the Chinese city of Guilin next month, as the airline moves to expand its China network beyond Incheon to regional airports.
The carrier announced Wednesday it will operate the Busan–Guilin route four times a week starting Sept. 23, with flights on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The service will use traffic rights the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport allocated in April.
The outbound flight departs Gimhae International Airport at 9:45 p.m. and arrives at Guilin Liangjiang International Airport at 12:35 a.m. the following day. The return flight departs Guilin at 1:35 a.m. and lands at Gimhae at 6:05 a.m. All times are local time.
When the winter schedule takes effect Oct. 25, departure times will shift slightly. The outbound flight from Busan will leave at 9:40 p.m., arriving in Guilin at 12:45 a.m. the next day, while the return departs Guilin at 1:45 a.m. and reaches Busan at 6:05 a.m.
Guilin, located in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is known for its karst landscapes and the scenic waterways around the Li River. The destination also draws travelers seeking outdoor activities such as rock climbing, cave exploration and camping.
The new route brings Jejuair's total scheduled China services to 12. The airline currently operates six routes from Incheon — to Qingdao, Weihai, Yanji, Harbin, Jiamusi and Shijiazhuang — along with three from Busan to Shanghai Pudong, Shijiazhuang and Zhangjiajie, and two from Jeju to Beijing Capital and Daxing airports.
Demand for travel to China continues to recover. Jejuair carried about 427,300 passengers on Korea–China routes in the first seven months of this year, up 37.4 percent from the same period last year. The average load factor over the same period rose to 86.4 percent, a gain of 6.6 percentage points year on year. Routes from regional airports such as Busan and Jeju were particularly strong, posting load factors approaching 90 percent.
Beyond the Busan–Guilin launch, Jejuair is reviewing whether to begin or increase flights this year on the Busan–Shanghai, Daegu–Shanghai, Jeju–Chengdu and Jeju–Chongqing routes, for which it also secured traffic rights in April.
Meanwhile, Jejuair has carried more than 1 million passengers every month for seven consecutive months this year, the highest passenger volume among domestic low-cost carriers. The airline transported about 1.15 million passengers in July alone.
kwater@heraldcorp.com
